


Slow Dancing in the Dark

by why_is_glieric



Series: Dr. Stone College AU [1]
Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Asexual Character, Asexual Ishigami Senkuu, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen is Nonbinary, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Gen, OOC-ness but it's justified bc they're both exhausted, Other, Senku is Asexual, Sleep Deprivation, Trans Asagiri Gen, and ~kissing~, but not that much kissing, idk how to tag tbh don't worry about it, literal slow dancing in the dark, lmk how best to tag this so ppl get the memo abt Gen being nb and Senku being ace. sheesh, not a songfic but there's a song in it ??, rated general but there are like... three (3) curse words maybe, rated m/m And other so any sengen stans can see this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:28:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27733792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/why_is_glieric/pseuds/why_is_glieric
Summary: Senku hasn't slept in 70 hours; Gen is there to make sure he doesn't collapse before his work is completed. Fluff ensues.
Relationships: Asagiri Gen & Ishigami Senkuu, Asagiri Gen/Ishigami Senkuu
Series: Dr. Stone College AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028721
Comments: 5
Kudos: 63





	Slow Dancing in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for fictional characters I can project my deepest romantic desires onto so I can live vicariously through their love. I am Not grateful for the semester plus this semester's finals that I have left in my college education fsdjlkfsjd. I am grateful for nanowrimo getting my ass in gear to compile a ton of my fic ideas into one place. I am not grateful for 2020 in general, fuck 2020, it didn't happen, can we leave yet. 
> 
> A few things to know before reading this fic: 
> 
> -This takes place in a Dr. Stone College AU I've been developing that I haven't posted other parts of, yet. This is the only scene from the AU that I've written in full, but I wanted it out there because we all need some fluffy sengen in our lives. Any other parts of the College AU will be posted as I write them, so there's no particular order to the posting, although there is an established timeline. Most of it doesn't matter for this piece, since it works well enough as a standalone fic. 
> 
> For obvious reasons, pretty much everybody in this AU goes to/works at the same university. Gen is a drama student bc of course they are. Senku is a graduate student and also does TA work for a few science classes. For AU purposes, I've messed with everyone's ages, so the sengen age gap is 2 years, and in this fic Senku is 20 and Gen is 22. They unofficially live together in Senku's apartment (which has a built-in lab, because this is Senku we're talking about).
> 
> They're lowkey OOC in this fic, but that's because they're both sleep deprived (mostly Senku lol) and in love. I just really like writing people in love, ok T-T 
> 
> In general, the characters in this AU are a bit different from canon, bc I gave them very different life experiences. That is how I'm justifying any OOC-ness, no I do not take constructive criticism, and also I swear I keep them much more in character in other parts of this AU.
> 
> -Dear god, please do not ask me about the experiment Senku is replicating. I have no idea. I'm not a STEM person in any conceivable way. I am imploring you to just go with it.
> 
> -There is a mention of an OC I created for this AU--Gen's cousin, Utaki. You'll meet him and the rest of Gen's family (for better or for worse) in other parts of the AU, but we stan him. The joke is that he's a musician, so his name has "uta" (the Japanese word for "song") in it. I'm hilarious. Praise me. (ok but srsly tho I'm not nearly as bad as mangakas like Horikoshi who literally name their characters "eternal darkness" and "lightning light fixture" I mean fckin come on)
> 
> The event Senku references is when he met Gen's family (which consists of their aunt, her husband, and their two kids) and Gen performed an impromptu serenade for Senku with their cousins. [(Mainly this song.)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96lwAGESRAY&ab_channel=JaneKrakowski-Topic)
> 
> -Gen still has their canon face markings, because I wanted them to keep 'em bc the look slaps; it's a tattoo, of course. The reason for this that y'all will eventually find out is that their parents are heLLa abusive and in one incident hurt their face badly enough to scar, so when Gen moved out to university, they got a New Look(TM) including their canon hairstyle and the tattoo to hide the scar (and also a cola tattoo bc Gen Loves Cola, Tee Em).
> 
> -Gen in all my fics is nonbinary, so when I refer to them in relation to my fics, I use they/them; I use their canon pronouns the rest of the time, pretty much. But they're a fictional character, so whatever lol. 
> 
> -The song this fic is titled after is ["Slow Dancing in the Dark" by Joji](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xwmensMDn0&ab_channel=Joji-Topic). Gen also sings it in the fic, and then they listen to it, so... mood music lol. [Here's a playlist of songs with the vibe we're after.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_IDTzIFAXYjDRZ0Q9RMRTQoxnJBuMlrh)
> 
> If you hella cringe at forcing song lyrics into fics, you can pretty much skip the parts where Gen is singing. The lines in italics are them singing, and the details between are just Senku being Super in love, so you can just skim over all that and resume the non-existent plot from "When Gen opened their eyes..."
> 
> I am forwarding the Asexual Senku and Nonbinary Gen agendas, one fic at a time. Get rekt. Enjoy.

It wasn’t often that Senku’s head spun the way it did at that moment, on the third sleepless night from working relentlessly on a time-sensitive experimentation project. He was usually pretty good about keeping within his physical limits, a fact he’s proud of. But when a group of tearful undergrads approached him during TA office hours and begged for help with a project for which they’d completely forgotten to find a peer reviewer until the last possible moment, Senku—heart softening by the day, it seemed—was helpless but to agree to replicate their experiment.

And jeez, for a group that had been underprepared in one major aspect of their project, they had chosen a complicated experiment to run. Not that it was particularly difficult for Senku… just the fact that he had less than two weeks to do it, and the specimens required at least one week to stand before the final data could be collected.

So there Senku was, pipetting the final combination samples into tubes to centrifuge for an hour. Gen was keeping him company, as usual, making sure he ate and took a few breaks—although they were currently in the kitchen, since Senku rarely allowed anyone in the lab during experiments. Senku had told them about the project’s deadlines, and his significant other took it upon themself not to leave until they both had the chance to get a good night’s sleep together, regardless of being in the same room or not.

Senku was _this_ close to finishing the experiment. _This_ close to going to bed with Gen and sleeping for twenty uninterrupted hours. He just had to wait for the centrifuge to complete its cycle so he could mark and freeze the final specimens.

Pushing his goggles up, Senku repressed the urge to rub his eyes until he removed his gloves and washed his hands. If he stumbled a little when he stood, there was nobody around to notice. He hung up his lab coat on the hook next to his lab’s door, setting a timer for sixty minutes and lamenting the fact that he couldn’t use the hour for a power nap. At least he could spend some time with Gen, or at least do something, _anything_ about the way the ache in his head was threatening to spiral all the way into an implosion.

In his pursuit to take a break while the centrifuge ran, Senku toed off his lab shoes and made his way into the kitchen, pulling his goggles from his tied-up hair and hissing when the straps caught in some of the tangles. If his shoulder checked the door frame leading to the kitchen, nobody was there to see. He washed his hands a second time in the kitchen sink using dish soap for good measure. If he nearly dropped his goggles on the floor instead of the counter, not a soul was around to witness.

Well…

“Weren’t you the one badgering me about the detriments of sleep deprivation?” Gen smirked around their cup of tea, looking unfairly put-together at such a late hour. As Senku dried his hands on a dish towel, slow to dignify that comment with a response, Gen stood from where they sat at the kitchen table, leaving their drink pushed safely towards the center. They picked up another steeping mug of very caffeinated black tea—the _#1 Science Thot_ mug they’d given Senku as congratulations for his last research award—and handed it to Senku, who inhaled the fumes as though the steam alone would keep him from collapsing. If his eyes slipped closed strongly enough to give him trouble opening them again, Gen was watching, and they noticed.

“That was when you were trying to binge watch Hell’s Kitchen for no reason; this is actual research,” Senku retorted, still knowing but not particularly caring that Gen was well aware of his plight and just kidding around. If his words slurred ever so slightly…

Yeah, Gen noticed that, too.

They sighed with a too-fond look on their face as they manhandled Senku’s mug out of his concerningly loose grip. Gen’s small smile slipped when they realized that they’d just borderline enabled Senku to drop their precious, irreplaceable, thousand-yen Science Thot mug. The still-full mug ended up on the counter for safekeeping.

“How much left?” they opted to ask instead of insisting that Senku abandon his experiment in favor of his health and Gen’s peace of mind.

A glance at the oven clock told them that it was well past 2 in the morning. They weren’t sure whether their boyfriend knew that. All Senku had to tell the time in his at-home lab was a tiny digital clock situated in the far corner, plus the drawer of timers set up to keep track of his experiments’ progress. Gen knew that Senku would have turned the actual clock around to face the wall—when he was in the midst of a time-intensive experiment, Senku hated having an active reminder of the time passing. All he wanted was to get the work done in the most efficient way possible.

Senku allowed Gen to guide him to sit at the kitchen table, forcing himself to maintain his steadily deteriorating muscle control. He lowered himself into the chair facing the one Gen pushed out moments ago. Gen’s hands lingered on Senku’s shoulder before trailing off to press lightly against the tabletop, and Senku couldn’t help but yearn for the soothing touch to return.

“An hour,” Senku articulated carefully. “When the centrifuge is done, I’ll make my final observations and measurements, put ‘em in the fridge, and the rest is up to time until next Saturday.”

Gen grimaced. “How long will that take?”

“Mm, maybe… twenty minutes?” Senku huffed a laugh at Gen’s half-bothered, half-relieved expression. “You don’t have to stay up with me. That’s an hour and a half for the rest of the experiment, then another thirty to clean up… then getting ready for bed…”

At this point, Senku couldn’t tell if he trailed off due to exhaustion or despair at how slowly the time was passing this close to the finish line.

Gen sat across from him, pulling out their phone and tapping something out. “Of course I’ll stay with you. I’ve waited this long,” they assured Senku with a hint of humor in their tone. “Will music help? You can probably get ready for bed now-ish, if waiting is all you’re doing for the next hour.”

Before Senku could answer, a _lofi beats to study/relax to_ -style song began to lightly hum from Gen’s phone. He frowned at the device as Gen powered down the screen. Senku didn’t want lofi beats; he wanted to listen to his significant other’s smooth singing voice. He’d been practically craving it for weeks, yet he hadn’t had the time to gather the courage to ask.

With normal topics, Senku never hesitated to offer the most tactless of his honesty. With courting Gen, however, he was lacking in the experience and self-assuredness to know what might scare them off—not much, he suspected, but the fear was always present. But now, his exhaustion-addled mind loosened his inhibitions, and he told them:

“Turn it off. Please.”

With an inquisitive tilt of their head, Gen complied. They waited for an explanation, but what they received instead was Senku leaning forward to brush his fingers against their face tattoo.

Their eyes widened, but they simply brought their hand up to cover Senku’s, gently thumbing against the back of their boyfriend’s hand.

Making hazy eye contact, Senku said, “You know how you sang for me with your cousins?”

Eyes still round, Gen’s brow furrowed at this. “Yes. What about it?” Despite having maintained regular hours of sleep the past few nights, Gen was also tired enough to be slipping from their normal witty banter; they didn’t have the energy to even try coming up with a joking response to Senku bringing up that raw and somewhat embarrassing memory.

Senku was quiet for a moment, sliding his fingers over the raised skin underneath the black ink on Gen’s cheek. The eye contact was too intense to be considered casual or competitive; they sat there, senses blurring from exhaustion, until Senku finally let out what’s been on his mind.

“Can you sing for me again? Right now. Something like your duet with Utaki. Please?”

Gen blinked. That was the second time Senku said “please” in one conversation—a testament to how truly butchered his brain-to-mouth filter must have been. The usual façade of “I’m too busy for manners” was fractured. They weren’t sure whether they should be pleased or concerned.

But with that look in his eyes, the seriousness and gentleness of his expression, the deep shadows sinking into his face—how could Gen refuse?

They tugged Senku’s hand from their face as they nodded, a tender smile crossing their lips despite feeling a wave of unanticipated nervousness. This will be their first time singing something serious alone with Senku, at his direct request. Sure, they’d always hum and mumble whatever song was on their mind at any given moment, but usually there were friends around, or Senku was simply there to passively listen. With their boyfriend’s undivided attention, Gen felt his gaze in their gut.

Their eyes drifted down as their smile turned self-deprecating. Usually they weren’t so shy. Par for the course with their relationship with Senku.

“Any requests in particular?” A weak attempt to alleviate some of the thickness in the air, the tension of Gen’s sudden nerves, and the slow intensity of the two’s mutual exhaustion.

Senku hummed, folding his arms on the table and leaning his chin to look at Gen from a lower angle. “Dunno. You’re the music person. I trust you. I just wanna hear you.”

Gen was definitely blushing now. They tried to glare at Senku, but the way Senku peered up at them, eyes narrowed in such a genuine little grin, sent their face back into a bashful smile in return.

“I guess, to fit the mood…” They cleared their throat as they glanced between the clock and the window, tiny neon glowing versus all-consuming darkness. “No instrumental for this one.” Senku nodded in assent.

Gen took a sip of their tea, then a moment to close their eyes and identify the key, and [began to sing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzjUs5yR68o&list=PL_IDTzIFAXYjDRZ0Q9RMRTQoxnJBuMlrh&index=1&ab_channel=Joji-Topic):

“ _I don’t want a friend… I want my life in two._ ”

Maybe his senses were starting to mess with him, but Senku shivered at the contrast between the low and higher notes, practically feeling the vibration in the air. Gen’s voice suited this song perfectly, though Senku had no clear recollection of hearing it before.

“ _Waiting to get there… Waiting for you._ ”

Gen closed their eyes as they sang, but they could feel Senku partway across the table, slowly straightening up to give himself a better view of them. They knew the song by heart, but their nerves still refused to let them open their eyes and see Senku’s devoted gaze—or possibly closing his eyes in turn and passing out.

Gen would keep their eyes closed this time, they decided. Distractions would do them no good in a moment like this. And the vocals by themselves were not particularly engaging, in Gen’s opinion, without their bone-shaking instrumental.

“ _When I’m around slow dancing in the dark… Don’t follow me, you’ll end up in my arms… You done made up your mind. I don’t need no more signs. Can you… Can you?_ ”

Gen swayed to the internal beat, hearing the music clearly in their mind. Everything else fell away as they lost theirself in their control of the music and Senku’s nearby presence.

“ _Give me reasons we should be complete… You should be with him, I can’t compete_.”

Gen’s command of the chorus took Senku’s breath away; Senku wasn’t even sure if he was actually breathing anymore. He watched as Gen’s face and voice alike switched between a gentle sadness and melancholy bitterness, preparing themself for the chorus’s climax.

“ _You looked at me like I was someone else… Oh well… Can’t you see?_ ”

The backlight of the kitchen lamp lit Gen’s face up as they tilted their head back with a smile, their lips curving around the lyrics. Shadows played across their cheeks, melding with their tattoo, bracing against the paleness of their skin. Senku didn’t stand a chance against this ethereal picture of the person who could topple his conviction with one note of their voice.

“ _I don’t want to slow dance… In the dark… Dark…_ ”

The vibrato on the word “dark” sent chills tingling through Senku from the inside out. Gen’s face contorted, straining slightly to reach the high notes, though Senku had plenty of experience hearing them sing higher with their chest voice. Senku knew, could see that something was going on in Gen’s mind, music rocking them like that. Their movements were loose but intense, a vibe that shook them, and Senku had a desperate wish that he could understand, truly empathize with what had Gen feeling this way: physically close enough to touch, yet mentally so deep in their own head.

“ _When you gotta run… Just hear my voice in you. Shutting me out of you. Doing so great… You…_ ”

Senku watched as Gen’s breathing matched up with the rhythm of their motions and the beat of the song they weaved with their clear, unwavering voice.

“ _Used to be the one… To hold you when you fall, yeah, yeah, yeah… I don’t fuck with your tone. I don’t wanna go home. Can it be one night? Can you… Can you?_ ”

Gen’s head dropped at the downbeat in their mind’s eye. Senku felt close to the feeling, so close to Gen, but not close _enough_.

“ _Give me reasons we should be complete. You should be with him, I can’t compete… You looked at me like I was someone else… Oh, well. Can’t you see?_ ”

Gen’s voice sliding between notes at the perfect times; Gen’s brow tensing and relaxing as they flowed through their vocal range; the subtle differences in their delivery of the repeated parts of the song; the low light in the room; the dark of the night; the atmosphere; Senku’s love for the person in front of him…

“ _I don’t want to slow dance, I don’t want to slow dance—In the dark… Dark…_ ”

Senku’s exhaustion was present but forgotten in the wake of Gen. Fuck, he _really_ wanted to feel them.

“ _In the dark… Dark._ ”

When Gen opened their eyes, they kept their gaze low, almost afraid to see Senku’s reaction to the song, despite knowing Senku always loved their music. Senku simply didn’t have the musical background or sensibility to be critical of it. But even so, they knew he wouldn’t have asked Gen to sing for him if he didn’t _really_ want to hear it.

Senku’s chair pushed away from the table suddenly. Gen jumped a bit, jerking their head up to stare as Senku crossed the short distance between their seats to drag them up to stand with him. A startled noise escaped their throat as Senku wrapped his arm around their waist while simultaneously fumbling for their phone, still left on the table next to their abandoned mug of tea.

“What?” Gen managed through their bafflement, nerves left behind at Senku’s abrupt change in demeanor.

“Tryna find the song,” Senku mumbled against their collarbone, typing something into Gen’s phone with minutely shaking hands.

“Even if you feel better now, your body knows what’s up,” Gen laughed in a weird rush of relief, stealing their phone back from their boyfriend. “You liked the song?”  
  
“Wanna dance with you,” Senku breathed. Gen paused, finger hovering over the _repeat song_ button.

“So now you literally want to slow dance in the dark?”

Senku turned his head to look Gen in the eyes, locks of hair straggling down from his loosened ponytail. His now free hands rose again to graze the delicate skin of Gen’s face. “Don’t make fun of me. You’re the one who’s too beautiful to handle. Singin’ like that. Lookin’ like that.” His words slurred even worse now, and Gen had less of a grasp on their boyfriend’s mental state than ever.

They settled to gaze back, whispering, “You gonna collapse on me? Don’t forget about your centrifuge.”

“Don’ care ‘bout the experiment. Dance with me, dumbass.” At the half-hearted insult, Gen grinned full-force and pressed _play_.

The two of them swayed in the small space between the kitchen table and the counter next to the sink, not bothering to move to a more open part of the house. The song echoed in the dark room, fading in and out for them as they turned in place, heads resting against one another. Senku’s forehead came to lay heavily on Gen’s shoulder, and if it weren’t for his deep, steady breathing and the way his feet shuffled as they spun together, Gen would be worried that Senku had passed out standing up.

At the chorus, Senku’s arms tightened around Gen’s waist, pulling them closer. Gen could feel his eyebrows crease against their shoulder.

“Listening to the lyrics now?” they teased, smoothing the clothes against Senku’s back.

Senku hummed in response. “It’s sad. I’m glad we’re definitely in mutual love.”

Gen snorted at Senku’s phrasing. “Well, you’re not wrong.” A quiet pause in time with the transition to the second verse. “Me, too.”

Senku shifted his head, pressing his lips to the side of Gen’s neck. They shivered, breathing deeply to control themself. They really wanted to drag Senku to bed and wrap theirself in his arms as he got the rest he needed and deserved… But there were upwards of twenty minutes left until Senku had to finish up his experiment, and Gen didn’t want to be the reason he beat himself up in the morning for potentially failing his students—or in the afternoon, or whenever Senku would end up waking after so many sleepless days.

The playlist shifted into a different song unexpectedly. Gen tried to extract themself from Senku’s arms to stop the music or change the song back, but Senku kept them pressed tightly against him. “Don’t go,” he mumbled, hands running up and down Gen’s sides. They shuddered at the feeling, at the gravel in Senku’s voice.

“Don’t do this to me now,” they said with a wry twist of their lips. “I’m gonna end up dragging you to bed in spite of all your progress.”

Senku hummed again, lips making their way to their jaw, their cheekbone, their tattoo. “What for?”

As if he didn’t know.

“I haven’t been able to hold you for the past two nights,” Gen said, closing their eyes at the feeling of Senku’s lips. “You need sleep. I miss you.”

“You have me now,” Senku countered. And, well, Gen couldn’t argue with that.

They took Senku’s face in their hands, taking in his tired yet adoring eyes for a long moment, then leaned in to press their lips together.

The new song passed, then another, and Gen was lucky that they’d clicked into their playlist of slower songs by happenstance, because the mood had yet to fade as they and Senku kissed unhurriedly, forgetting about everything but each other and the subdued vibration of the air around them.

By the time the centrifuge timer went off in the other room, just loud enough to make itself known in the kitchen, the two of them could barely remember how to open their eyes, let alone part from their embrace. The mutual exhaustion and desire to remain in this intimate closeness nearly overpowered the will to get that timer to stop beeping so Senku could complete his experiment and finally, _finally_ make it to bed.

Gen slowly removed themself from Senku’s weakened grip, but Senku just brought his hands up to hold Gen’s cheeks as they lingered in another kiss.

“Senku,” Gen muttered against his lips, “Turn off the timer. We can do this later, if you don’t pass out immediately. Which you definitely should do, by the way.”

Senku stopped his insistent kissing to press their foreheads together. “Fine. ‘M close to finishing, anyway.”

“I know.” Neither of them moved. “Anything I can do to help you get to bed faster?”  
  


“Not really. Damn humanities major.” Gen huffed as Senku cracked a smile, running his thumb against their cheek again, apparently a new habit. “You can keep the bed warm.”  
  
“Asking me to abandon you again when you’re this close to finishing your work? Come on, Senku.”

“Fine, fine. Just… C’mon.” He pulled away, allowing Gen to pause the music before taking their hand and pulling them to the lab entrance. “Don’t go past the doorway; you don’t have safety equipment on,” Senku instructed, trying to resume Serious Business Mode.

“You left your goggles on the counter.”

“… Shit.”

Gen laughed as they turned back to retrieve their boyfriend’s goggles as the man himself turned off the timer and shuffled through his drawers of equipment. They placed the completely forgotten mugs of tea in the sink and vowed to deal with them when they woke up later.

When Gen met Senku at the door of the lab, Senku placed a quick kiss to Gen’s temple before pulling his goggles over his head and plodding to the centrifuge to remove his samples.

Gen leaned against the doorframe as they watched Senku work—cinematic parallels, they supposed; both of them got to see the other in their element, that night.

“Those kids owe you their lives,” Gen said aloud, appreciating their boyfriend’s dedication to his students, even though Senku wasn’t technically a professor.

Senku laughed from where he stood near the freezer. “Yeah, I’ll be able to cash in a few favors after this.”

“Like you could want for anything.”

It was meant to be lighthearted, but the way Senku smiled at them and agreed made Gen’s heart stutter in their chest. Damn Senku for looking so good even with dumb, clunky safety goggles on.

“And not that you need any more money, but they better be giving you some very nice compensation for all this. Y’know, health hazards and all.”

This was also meant to be a joke.

But Senku said, straight-faced, “Oh, I’m not getting paid,” and Gen thought that maybe it was too late in the night to be bothering with jokes if none of them were landing, or in fact crashing in such spectacularly horrific ways. A wave of disbelief and righteous indignation swept through them on Senku’s behalf.

They tried to stay outwardly calm. “But you’re getting some compensation, right?”

Senku’s face had turned slightly, bordering on a frown as he worked. “Well, I’m getting a little academic credit, but other than that…”

Gen’s jaw was practically on the floor. “But? You just? Did two all nighters? Basically for _free?!_ ” they sputtered. They crossed their arms tightly, unsure of how to react to this information.

The wry smile on Senku’s face stopped Gen’s whirl of contradictory emotions in its tracks. “Well, like we said, I can call in favors if I really want to. But, y’know, sometimes it’s good for someone to have your back. People make mistakes sometimes, especially at our age, and that shouldn’t screw them over if it doesn’t have to. If I can help out, I’ll do it, you know?”

If Gen was shocked before, they must be on fire now, with the warmth simmering underneath their skin.

A speech like that? At an ungodly hour in the morning? At the tail end of 70 hours with little to no sleep? Senku really was something.

Gen didn’t realize they were smiling silently until Senku appeared in front of them, goggles and lab coat nowhere in sight.

“What’s that look for?” he asked, poking them with an ungloved hand.

“Done already?” Gen responded in lieu of a real answer. They noticed the little lab clock was turned away from the wall: The time read 3:40—pretty much exactly as Senku predicted.

“You phased out for a bit, there,” the man smirked. “Can’t blame ya. I cleaned what I had to. I’ll do the rest tomorrow.” He placed a hand on the small of Gen’s back and guided them to the bedroom.

Gen stopped a moment before they entered their shared room. Senku continued inside and paused next to the bed, removing his hair tie and letting his gravity-defying locks splay loose and spilling in every direction. He looked at Gen curiously through wild bangs, somehow more beautiful now than Gen had ever seen him. Maybe it was just the exhaustion talking.

“You—” Gen started, but they choked on the lump they suddenly found in their throat.

Senku’s brow furrowed in concern. He walked over to Gen and laced their fingers together. He didn’t ask questions, simply waiting patiently for Gen to continue if they wanted, in spite of Senku’s urgent need for sleep.

Gazing into Senku’s eyes, seeing the shadows digging into his face, and feeling an earnest need to end the night on this final thought of theirs, Gen stated with conviction: “You’re a really good person, Senku.”

Evidently, it took several days of no sleep and a boatload of emotional vulnerability on both their parts to get Senku to blush a red vivid enough to match his eyes.

Gen laughed hysterically, moved by this new and impressive look on their boyfriend’s face, victim to the absurdity of being awake at nearly 4 in the morning. “Let’s get to bed,” they smiled, kissing Senku and then dragging him bodily into the room.

After a brief detour to the bathroom for hygiene purposes (wherein Gen tried and failed to bully Senku out of taking a shower, quick though it ended up being), the two of them changed into their nightclothes and shuffled into bed. Senku took his rightful place pressed against Gen’s back, laying a soft kiss against their nape as they sighed contentedly.

Gen could feel Senku’s rapid drop out of consciousness; his breathing evened out immediately, arms slack and heavy, draped against Gen’s side. They let out a breath of amusement, whispering, “Told you so,” then allowed themself to follow him into a long, dreamless sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> And then when Senku wakes up, he forces Gen to swear on their life not to tell anyone about how sappy he got the previous night.
> 
> Stan the Science Thot mug.
> 
> [Again, here's a playlist with some of the songs referenced in/matching the vibe of the fic.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_IDTzIFAXYjDRZ0Q9RMRTQoxnJBuMlrh)
> 
> Thanks for reading! Look forward to the other parts of this AU, whenever they end up written, lol. Probably some months from now. See you then!!


End file.
